Fan-turned-player Luke Hyam would like nothing more than to emulate his former favourites and reclaim Premier League status for Town.

Hyam, who graduated through the academy, recalled his time as a supporter at Portman Road when the club triumphed at Wembley in the 2000 play-off final and admitted: “I’d love to repeat that as a player.

“I didn’t go to that many games back then but I remember people like David Johnson, Matt Holland and Jim Magilton. All the players feel the same and we want to get the whole town buzzing again.

“We want to emulate what the team of 2000 did and everyone wants to get to the Premiership. If everyone is pulling in the right direction I’m sure it will happen.”

Meanwhile, Hyam is also keen to produce the goods on a more consistent basis and shake off the ‘holding midfielder’ tag that he earned upon his introduction to the first team.

He added: “In the last couple of years I became pigeon-holed as a holding midfielder but I’m trying to improve my attacking play. I feel I’m making progress but there is still some way to go.

“I’m working with the manager and Terry Connor on making more forward runs, creating more scoring chances and getting more goals.

“I’ve got into a couple of good positions this season but the ball just hasn’t fallen for me at certain times. Hopefully, as I gain more experience and enjoy a bit of luck things will start to fall into place.”

Hyam is also full of praise for midfield partner Cole Skuse, who arrived on a free transfer in the summer after his Bristol City contract expired and has turned in several eye-catching displays.

He said: “Cole and I work well together and we tend to work off each other. If Cole wants to go forward I’ll sit for him and vice versa.

“In training he has been different class. I don’t think the boys realised just how good he was until they started to work alongside him.

“We had played against him when he was at Bristol City but it’s only when you work with somebody in training every day that you fully appreciate how good he is. His touch, his passing, for me he’s a top-quality player.”

Luke my man im afraid you are a limited footballer and as such you should realise your limitations. You are just a holding midfielder and nothing more as much as you and fans might want you to be. 1 goal in a town shirt would suggest that. Hyam does a good job coveribg the back 4 but we struggle with no attack minded midfielder alongside skuse. Here's hoping for 3 points today against an out of sorts birmingham

Wish everyone would lay of Hyam. He has had very good patches in the past and kept working hard when badly teated by Jewell.He may not be playing so well at the moment but he has played well in the past and will do so again. Some people are never happy - if we are not doing so well i would prefer it to be with our own committed players rather than the loanees of the past.